Time for another small update.
As I posted earlier this week, I've decided to try to remove the wax finish with Dawn detergent, then reapply the Gloss Clear wet coats, buff out, and wax once again. I'm not expecting any miracles, but rather hoping for a little better depth to the shine. So that's this week's upcoming focus.
So my attention focused on finishing up the interior, wheels, and tires.
The kit BBS wheels are ok, nothing special in terms of fidelity to scale as they're a little, shall I say on the chunky side. I primed them with Gunge light Gray #1500 primer sealer, then AB'd the center sections Tamiya X-32 Titanium Silver. In real life the centers are a matt finish so the Tamiya paint is just perfect in appearance. The rims are Mig Ammo Polished Steel to represent Polished Aluminum. The pictures don't really show the shine at all. The tires are a weird type of rubber. Soft to the touch, and for the 1st time any gloss base just beaded right up. Even Pledge didn't work. So I applied the decals over drops of Micro Set as even it just beaded up. Couldn't touch the decals as they just moved. I let the Set settle in and dry, then brushed on Micro Sol. Same deal, the decals moved at the slightest touch. So I also let the solution soak in and dry. Then out came my big Guns: Walthers Solvaset. A really heavy dose and then left the decals to soak all of it up, & dry off. Next day the decals were all nicely settled in with no flash or Silvering. Talk about dumb luck. The wheels were then installed on the axles.
The roll cage and interior were previously primed and painted with Gravity Brun Jagmeister Orange. A couple of coats of Gunze Clear gloss gave the interior the correct shiny look. All the rest of the parts were primed with #1500 Black primer. Now my attention turned to the seat. I'm so use to seeing all of the Touring car seats being made from carbon fiber, that I just assumed the same applied in this case. But when I checked my references, I could clearly see that the seat shell was Fiber Glass with a leather insert. The seat looks more like a Yellowish Green and pretty dirty. I tried a few colors I had and nothing came close. I still have some of my aircraft paints, so I took a look, and what do you know? There was a full bottle of Tamiya Yellow Green Zinc Chromate. Darn, if it didn't look perfect. I decided to brush coat it on as I wanted to paint to pool up around the sides and the frame of the seat. 6 coats with 30 min between coats, and I had the look I was after.
Next up was the 6 way seat harness. The detail up set had all the various PE buckles and latches, as well as a red ribbon for the belt material. So I started on my two day adventure. Not being able to see these little parts just made it all that more fun to deal with. I ended up making several compromises, but the end results look ok, and honestly, better then I expected. All I've got left to do is glue the shoulder harness straps to the top back of the seat so that they have a more realistic droopy appearance.
Joel
Associate Editor
